What you’ll learn
- Be able to describe what an editor does from the first day of rushes to picture lock and beyond, name every job in a cutting room, and say honestly how long the road to editor takes.
- Have chosen the route you are on (post-house runner, edit trainee and assistant, cutting shorts, corporate and online, documentary), with the years and money each one really means.
- Know what to study (rhythm, story, sound, the standard texts), which software to be fluent in and why Avid comes first in a UK cutting room, and why assistants live or die by media management.
- Know what first paid cutting work looks like, where the rate cards live, when an agent makes sense, and have a saved plan: what you will cut in the next six months, three people to approach and a review date.
Where this leads
By the end you will have written your own Stage 1 plan, checked yourself against MFJF's five Stage 1 statements, and know exactly what to do next: a mentor clinic, an Academy workshop, and Stage 2, the HotList.
Finish the course and you can build your personal plan: MFJF's three-stage planner for this role, ticked from Your Profile and your CV, with dated next steps and the CV line each one becomes.
What an editor actually does, and where they do it
20 minThe job from rushes to picture lock and beyond, the four people in a cutting room, where cutting rooms live, and the honest truth about how editors are made.
- readFrom rushes to picture lock, and beyond8 min
- readThe cutting room, and where it lives8 min
- checkCheck: the job and the room4 min
The routes in, with the years and the money
20 minFive ways into a cutting room, what each one costs in years and money, how they combine, and a task that ends with you choosing yours.
- readRoutes 1 to 3: the post house, the trainee schemes, and documentary8 min
- readRoutes 4 and 5: cutting your own, the corporate and online road, and combining them7 min
- taskTask: choose your route5 min
Day 1 to year 3: the craft, the software and the showreel
20 minWhat to study and how (rhythm, story, sound, the standard texts), the software to be fluent in and why Avid comes first, media management, how to cut a short that shows judgement, and a task that ends with a scene cut two ways.
- readThe craft: rhythm, story, sound and the standard texts7 min
- readThe software, media management, and a showreel that is not a montage8 min
- taskTask: cut a scene two ways5 min
Getting paid: first paid work, rates, the step to editor, agents
20 minWhat the first paid cutting work actually looks like, the rules on unpaid work and tax, where the rate cards live, how long the assistant-to-editor step really takes, and when an agent makes sense.
- readWhat first paid cutting work looks like8 min
- readRates, the step from assistant to editor, and agents6 min
- checkCheck: getting paid6 min
The industry around you
20 minThe post houses, the British Film Editors, BAFTA, the union and ScreenSkills, the schools, the festivals, and the people in the site's case studies; then the library.
- readThe map: post houses, bodies, schools, festivals and the case studies7 min
- resourcesThe future editor's library8 min
- checkCheck: the map5 min
Your plan: from here to the cutting room
20 minThe plan you take away, how you know you are moving, the five Stage 1 statements adapted honestly to an editor's road, and what to do next on MFJF.
- plannerYour editing plan10 min
- readHow you know you are moving, the five statements, and what to do next6 min
- checkCheck: ready for the road4 min
Unlock this course with PRO
Go PRO to open every lesson and resource in this course, and in every other Foundations course.
Sources and references
Where this course comes from. Open any of them yourself.
What this course was written from
- MFJF careers guide: Editor the MFJF careers guide this course was built from
- MFJF case studies
- British Film Editors
- ScreenSkills
- BECTU
- BAFTA
Every link checked 19 September 2026.
